Iranian Leader Warns Against U.S. Attack

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Wednesday that if the United States attacks Iran, U.S. interests around the world would be harmed, state-run Tehran television reported.

Speaking to laborers on the occasion of the International Laborers Day, Khamenei said U.S. officials have been using threatening language against Iran for the past 27 years, but the Iranian nation and officials do not care about the threats.

"The Iranian nation and its officials are peace-seekers and the Islamic republic would not invade anybody," the television quoted Khamenei as saying.

But he added: "The Americans should know that if they invade Iran, their interests around the world would be harmed. Iran will respond double-fold to any attack."

Iran is locked in a dispute with the United States and its allies over its controversial nuclear program and is facing a U.N. deadline Friday to suspend uranium enrichment or risk possible sanctions.

Also Wednesday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Iran's "enemies" would not be able to use the U.N. Security Council and the International Atomic Energy Agency to punish Iran.

"The enemies could not impose their wrong decision against us under cover of the Security Council and the IAEA," he said, according to the television broadcast.